How to Encrypt App Contants & Strings in iOS Apps

Last updated November 4, 2024 by Appdome

This Knowledge Base article describes how to use Appdome’s AI/ML in your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deliver plugins that Prevent Data Breaches in iOS apps.

What are Data Breaches?

Using Appdome’s Strings and Resources Encryption you can easily encrypt all strings (such as CFStrings) in iOS apps. This feature greatly enhances the security of the app against malicious attempts to read the app’s contents or harvest valuable data about mobile users.

Appdome is a no-code mobile app security platform designed to add security features, like strings and resource encryption to Android and iOS apps without coding.  This KB shows mobile developers, DevSec and security professionals how to use Appdome’s simple ‘click to build’ user interface to quickly and easily protect sensitive data in iOS apps. 

Why Prevent Data Breaches in iOS Apps?

Why do we need to encrypt App Constants & Strings in iOS Apps?

The soft belly of any application is the thing that can be easily understood from the application without using specialized tools. The top two in the list are:

  1. Strings: Human-readable words, phrases, URLs, tokens, passwords etc…
  2. Resources: Images, audio, video, and anything that’s easy to double-click on a PC.

Anyone can unpack a .ipa file, and snoop around, which those files above mentioned can be opened or read (images, movies, audio snippets and the occasional plist or db file).

Prerequisites for Using Appdome's Encrypt Strings and Resources Plugins:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Prevent Data Breaches , you’ll need:

How to Implement Prevent Data Breaches in iOS Apps Using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending iOS Apps that Prevent Data Breaches without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Designate the Mobile App to be protected.

    1. Upload an app via the Appdome Mobile Defense platform GUI or via Appdome’s DEV-API or CI/CD Plugins.

    2. iOS Formats: .ipa
    3. Encrypt Strings and Resources is compatible with: Obj-C, Java, Swift, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other iOS apps.
  2. Select the defense: Encrypt Strings and Resources.

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Encrypt Strings and Resources feature as shown below:
        fusion set that contains Encrypt Strings and Resources .

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Encrypt Strings and Resources feature
        Note: Naming the Fusion Set to correspond to the protection(s) selected is for illustration purposes only (not required).

      2. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2-2.2.2 of this article to add the Encrypt Strings and Resources feature to your Fusion Set via the Appdome Console.

      3. When you select the Encrypt Strings and Resources you'll notice that the Fusion Set you created in step 2.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Encrypt Strings and Resources.

        Fusion Set applied Encrypt Strings and Resources

        Figure 2: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Encrypt Strings and Resources protection
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set. Copy the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 3: Fusion Set Detail Summary

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Circle CI or other system:
        1. Refer to the Appdome API Reference Guide for API building instructions.
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository.
    1. Add the Encrypt Strings and Resources feature to your security template.

      1. Navigate to Build > Security tab > TOTALData™ Encryption section in the Appdome Console.
      2. Toggle On > Encrypt Strings and Resources.
        Encrypt Strings and Resources option

        Figure 4: Selecting Prevent Data Breaches

        Note: The Appdome Platform displays the Mobile Operation Systems supported by each defense in real-time. For more details, see our OS Support Policy KB.

      3. Configure the User Experience Options for Encrypt Strings and Resources:
        With Threat-Events™ OFF, Appdome provides several user experience options for mobile brands and developers.
        1. App Compromise Notification: Customize the pop-up or toast Appdome uses to notify the user when a threat is present while using the protected mobile app.
        2. Short message Option. This is available for mobile devices that allow a banner notification for security events.
        3. Localized Message Option. Allows Appdome users to support global languages in security notifications.

          Localized Message

          Figure 5: Default User Experience Options for Appdome’s Data Breaches

        4. Encrypt Strings and Resources Threat Code™. Appdome uses AI/ML to generate a unique code each time Encrypt Strings and Resources is triggered by an active threat on the mobile device. Use the code in Appdome Threat Resolution Center™ to help end users identify, find and resolve active threats on the personal mobile devices.
    2. Initiate the build command either by clicking Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 4) or via your CI/CD as described in Section 2.1.4.
    Congratulations!  The Encrypt Strings and Resources protection is now added to the mobile app
  3. Certify the Encrypt Strings and Resources feature in iOS Apps

    After building Encrypt Strings and Resources, Appdome generates a Certified Secure™ certificate to guarantee that the Encrypt Strings and Resources protection has been added and is protecting the app. To verify that the Encrypt Strings and Resources protection has been added to the mobile app, locate the protection in the Certified Secure™ certificate as shown below: Encrypt Strings and Resources shown in Certificate secure

    Figure 6: Certified Secure™ certificate

    Each Certified Secure™ certificate provides DevOps and DevSecOps organizations the entire workflow summary, audit trail of each build, and proof of protection that Encrypt Strings and Resources has been added to each iOS app. Certified Secure provides instant and in-line DevSecOps compliance certification that Encrypt Strings and Resources and other mobile app security features are in each build of the mobile app.

Using Threat-Events™ for Data Breaches Intelligence and Control in iOS Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Data Breaches are detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Data Breaches in iOS Apps, use AddObserverForName in Notification Center, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Data Breaches shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Data Breaches are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent Data Breaches Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Encrypt Strings and Resources
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check x
Visible in ThreatScope™ x
Developer Parameters for Preventing Data Breaches Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
failSafeEnforce Timed enforcement against the identified threat
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occurred event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location longitude conditioned by location permission
locationLat Location latitude conditioned by location permission
locationState Location state conditioned by location permission
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status
threatCode The last six characters of the threat code specify the OS, allowing the Threat Resolution Center to address the attack on the affected device.

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), iOS developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in iOS applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Data Breaches are detected.


The following is a code sample for native iOS apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Encrypt Strings and Resources:


Important! Replace all placeholder instances of <Context Key> with the specific name of your threat event context key across all language examples. This is crucial to ensure your code functions correctly with the intended event data. For example, The <Context Key> could be the message, externalID, OS Version, reason code, etc.



Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured iOS Apps by using Encrypt Strings and Resources. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Encrypt Strings and Resources

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

How Do I Learn More?

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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